# The Uprising (1999 film)
**The Uprising** (이재수의 난, *I Jaesu-ui nan*) is a South Korean historical action film directed by Park Kwang-su, released in South Korea on June 26, 1999, and set during the 1901 rebellion on Cheju (Jeju) Island against royal tax collectors and the local Catholic community.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990073) • [2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=19990073) It stars [Lee Jung-jae](https://www.edgepedia.org/lee-jung-jae) as Yi Jae-su, a messenger who becomes commander of the rebel forces, and Shim Eun-ha as his beloved Suk-hwa.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990073) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_uprising) The film was a France–South Korea co-production and, at the time of its domestic release, Korea's highest-budgeted film to date.[4](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2000/films/the-uprising) • [5](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=980&page=14&pyear=1999)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 이재수의 난 (*Lee Jae-sueui nan*); international title The Uprising; French title Les Insurgés[6](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/les-insurges/) |
| Director / screenwriters | Park Kwang-su; screenplay by Park Kwang-su and Oh Seung-uk (with Shim Jae-hyun and Doe Sung-hee also credited on adaptation), from an original story by Hyeon Gi-yeong[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990073) |
| Release | June 26, 1999, South Korea; distributed by Cinema Service Co., Ltd.; Korean rating 12+[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990073) |
| Running time | 100 minutes per KOFIC; festival catalogs list 97, 102, and 105 minutes[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=19990073) • [4](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2000/films/the-uprising) • [7](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/movie/PM_004570) • [5](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=980&page=14&pyear=1999) |
| Cast | Lee Jung-jae (Lee Jae-su), Shim Eun-ha (Il Suk-hwa), Dong Bang-woo, Myung Kye-nam, Frédéric Andrau (Father Koo), Kang Shin-il, Choi Il-hwa[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=19990073) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_uprising) • [8](https://www.krmdb.com/stills/1999/Uprising-1999/index.b5.shtml) |
| Production | KiHweck ShiDae (South Korea) and Les Films de l'Observatoire (France); producers Yoo In-taek, Lee Chang-joon, and Philippe Avril[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990073) • [9](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/the-uprising) |
| Honors | Locarno 1999 Youth Jury Third Prize; Grand Bell Awards 2000 for Best Music (Won Il) and Best Costume Design; KINO magazine's No. 1 Korean film of 1999[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990073) |
## Spoilers
### Historical setting and plot
The film dramatizes the Jeju insurrection of 1901, which the [Rotterdam](https://www.edgepedia.org/rotterdam) festival program describes as one of the bloodiest incidents in Korean history, rooted in economic repression and religious conflict.[4](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2000/films/the-uprising) In the film's framing, the royal government in Seoul, needing to pay war indemnities (payments a losing nation makes to compensate the victor), levies high taxes across Korea; on Cheju, a poor volcanic island off the kingdom's southern coast, tax collectors strip inhabitants of what little money they have, while the local Catholic community supports the collectors.[6](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/les-insurges/) The suicide of an old scholar humiliated by a group of Christians sparks the crisis, and Confucian scholars raise a rebel army against royal injustice.[6](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/les-insurges/)
Yi Jae-su, a messenger boy who had hoped for a simple life with Suk-hwa, becomes commander of the rebel forces despite knowing that the leader of an uprising must answer for it with his own life.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990073) • [7](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/movie/PM_004570) The rebels besiege the walled town of Cheju, where the priest and believers have dug themselves in awaiting help from the militarily superior French troops, and demand the lives of five wicked believers along with the correction of abuses by the church and the tax system.[4](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2000/films/the-uprising) • [7](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/movie/PM_004570) When bullets fly and battle continues, the rebels kill the defenders one by one; Yi Jae-su takes the fortress, but the French fleet is already heading for Jeju.[7](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/movie/PM_004570) Having extracted a promise from the Joseon government to redress the church and tax grievances, he gives up his own head, leaving behind Suk-hwa and the many people who followed him.[7](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/movie/PM_004570)
## Production
Park Kwang-su (born 1955 in Sokcho) was a central figure in the Korean new wave that began in the late 1980s, and his films had previously taken up the labor movement, national reunification, and the [Korean War](https://www.edgepedia.org/korean-war); *The Uprising* addressed foreign colonialist intrusion.[10](https://dornsife.usc.edu/ksi/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2025/03/2001_park_kwang_su_KFIMagazine.pdf) • [11](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/programs/park-kwang/2) The Busan festival program calls the film his ambitious experiment on history and cinema, deliberately reflecting the circumstances of Korean filmmaking in the 1990s, and notes that he defies conventional narrative style with fragmented scenes meant to capture the voices of the masses caught in a large historical battle.[5](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=980&page=14&pyear=1999) The Harvard Film Archive describes the historical epic as Park's way of giving new perspective on Korea's difficult colonial legacy.[11](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/programs/park-kwang/2)
The film was shot on 35 mm in color, with cinematography by Kim Hyung-gu, production design by Joo Byung-do, editing by Kim Hyun, and music by Won Il.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990073) The language is Korean and French, reflecting the French missionary and naval presence in the story.[4](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2000/films/the-uprising)
## Reception and festivals
Domestic response was divided. The Busan program records that some heralded the film for its courage while others condemned it for its recklessness, with the differing appraisals centering on its archaic interpretation of history and its status as Korea's highest-budgeted film to date, which overshadowed Lee Jung-jae's performance and Kim Hyung-gu's cinematography.[5](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=980&page=14&pyear=1999)
On the festival circuit it appeared in the official selection of the Festival des 3 Continents in Nantes in 1999, out of international competition, under its French title *Les Insurgés*.[6](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/les-insurges/) At the Locarno International Film Festival in 1999 it won the Youth Jury's Third Prize in the New Cinema section.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990073) • [9](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/the-uprising) It screened at the Montreal World Film Festival in 1999 and at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and Göteborg Film Festival in early 2000, the latter beginning January 30, 2000.[9](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/the-uprising) • [4](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2000/films/the-uprising) • [12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208590/releaseinfo/) At the 4th Busan festival in 1999 it was shown in the Korean Panorama section.[5](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=980&page=14&pyear=1999)
In Korea the film received Grand Bell Awards in 2000 for Best Music, awarded to composer Won Il, and Best Costume Design, awarded to Bong Hyeon-suk; the magazine KINO ranked it the best Korean film of 1999, while its readers placed it eighth.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990073)
## References
1. [The Uprising (1998), Korean Film Database / Filmmakers](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/19990073)
2. [The Uprising (1999), KOFIC Korean Film Council film database](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=19990073)
3. [The Uprising, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_uprising)
4. [The Uprising, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2000](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2000/films/the-uprising)
5. [The Uprising, 4th Busan International Film Festival (1999) Korean Panorama archive](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=980&page=14&pyear=1999)
6. [Les Insurgés (The Uprising), Festival des 3 Continents](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/les-insurges/)
7. [이재수의 난, 시네마테크KOFA (Korean Film Archive)](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/movie/PM_004570)
8. [韓國映畫: The Uprising (1999) stills and credits](https://www.krmdb.com/stills/1999/Uprising-1999/index.b5.shtml)
9. [The Uprising, MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/the-uprising)
10. [A Day with Park Kwang Su, Korean Film Magazine (USC Korean Studies Institute copy)](https://dornsife.usc.edu/ksi/wp-content/uploads/sites/87/2025/03/2001_park_kwang_su_KFIMagazine.pdf)
11. [Park Kwang-su and the Origins of the Korean New Wave, Harvard Film Archive](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/programs/park-kwang/2)
12. [The Uprising (1999) release info, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208590/releaseinfo/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › Historical dramas and epics › Titles M to Z › Titles Sc to Z*
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